‘Shell’s, Eni’s oil deal may violate UK laws’

Royal Dutch Shell and Eni could “fall foul of anti-corruption legislation” in Britain over a $1.1 billion Nigerian offshore oil block the companies bought last year, campaign group’s Global Witness, said on Monday.

Block OPL 245, which holds an estimated 9 billion barrels of oil, had been owned by former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete’s company Malabu Oil and Gas. It was later awarded to Shell, starting a decade-long legal dispute that ended last year.

Shell and Eni according to Reuters, have repeatedly said they paid the Nigerian government last year for the oil block, which Eni operates, and that they never dealt with Malabu.

Etete originally acquired the asset in a deal conducted while he was Oil Minister under Sani Abacha’s regim. He was convicted for money laundering in France in 2007.

Local newspapers quoted Nigeria’s Attorney General Mohammed Adoke in May as saying that Shell and Italian company Eni agreed to pay Malabu the money for the block, with the government as an intermediary.